[T]iHnDi<3

Friday, May 30, 2008

FridayWhat I did & Media I experiencewalked to my friends-blockbustger ads-Goodwill ads-Bmo adswent to the mall-phones ads-sales at the bay flyers-glasses adswent on my computer -pop-ups for laptops-pop-ups for free ipods-went on facebook and heard 50-cent-I get moneySaturdayWhat I did & Media I experiencewatched tv-covergirl commercial-hakim option commercial-beer commercialdrove to the mall-tim hortens ads-saw cell phone plan ads and pictures on buses-saw skyway adswent grocery shopping-saw basic foods ads-listened to the radio in the car-phone commercials-smoking commercials-heard songsSaturdayWhat I did & Media I experiencewent to missisauga-perfume ads-clothes ads-honda cars ads-went to uncles house-future shop ads-new home ads

I think I was exposed to enough media. I saw a lot of ads and commencials in one week, I wonder how many I would see in a year! More than millions!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

What makes Canadians different from Americans?The fact that us Canadians have the courage to accept various cultures from around the world to form a multicultural soceity within Canada otherwise known as a mosaic.Whereas, in the United States make their soceity become one type of culture, otherwise known as a "melting pot."Where various cultures are brought into one pot and stirred into one form of liquid, a religion they must put forward before their own.However, after viewing all these aspects we can come to conclusion there are other things which seperate certain individuals within Canada such as social groups based on form of attire or cultural backgrounds.For example, when we walk into a school there are designated places where certain individuals hang out. Also the media has a very significant influence of certain social groups being portrayed and shown in the media through advertisments, movies and television shows. Although, the media plays a major role in representing certain social groups through stereotypical views, there will always be barriers between certain individuals in the world.

Photo Manipulation has gone too far! Photo manipulation happens a lot now and it’s either manipulating a person body or face or even features on your face.Photo manipulation has a negative impact on women because when women see themselves in a mirror they can probably identify the many bad qualities about them and that they can look better because of the people who manipulate images in magazines make them look so perfect. This might even make woman think about plastic surgery, just to make them look like how everyone pictures them. Some woman don’t like photo manipulation because sometimes they make them looks like something they aren’t like to skinny or make their breast bigger or smaller and etc...When you’re just young kids looking at a magazine it doesn’t really occur to us that people would do that to a photograph because when they choose a model for their magazine. Would they not choose a model that is perfect so they wouldn’t have to do anything to the photos? I feel it is wrong to do that because it makes the person feel that they are not right and that they have something wrong with them that they can go get fixed by plastic surgery. I definitely think photo manipulation has gone too far because they over do it. They are making woman look like Barbie dolls.The time Magazine darkened O.J Simpson’s photo and they were trying to make him look like a look like a threatening person who is dangerous. Just making the picture darker it makes Simpsons look scarier. If you compare the Time Magazine and the News Week Magazine photos O.J looks like an innocent person in the News Week Magazine. Just manipulating the photo makes a person look totally different and so many people can tell his two different personalities just by the colour and lighting change. I think this manipulation was racist because the editors or whoever manipulated his photo knew that if they make a person look darker they will look like a murderer. When person is murdered and a black man is involved in the incident people would most likely accuse the black guy because he’s black, and this is a stereotype. A person who has a different race, religion, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background will probably find some pictures racist because they are always stereotyped for specific things and if they see another person in a magazine being stereotyped they will probably notice that.When people interpret images they look at the different things that make the photo what it is. The role that a person’s race, religion, ethnicity and socioeconomic background plays is that it allows people to pick out certain things in the photo that may change their views on it. For example, with the TIME cover of O.J., people that were African American found that TIME Magazine’s cover was racist because it made O.J. look guilty before the court trails. It allows your point of view of things to change very easily.

The first thing you have to look at when comparing what happened to the Dixie Chicks, Kanye West and Pink is the genre of their music. Dixie Chicks are country, Kanye West is hip-hop/rap and Pink is rock/pop. The fact that Dixie Chicks are country makes it a lot harder for them to say something controversial about the American war and not have it be dealt with in the harshest terms. After Natalie said “ We are ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas” turned their country fans against them.

“We are ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas”

What doesn’t make sense is when Pink wrote a song called “Dear Mr. President” that was extremely controversial against the president she got praised from her fans. Pink has made her career all about standing out and saying what’s on her mind, even if it does go against our society. In songs such as “Stupid Girls” you can clearly see in the video that she is negatively portraying female celebrities such as Mary Kate Olsen, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton. Her songs usually do have a meaningful message behind them and that’s what makes her fans and parts of society not care about her choice of songs, which is why I think she got away with the song.

"What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?"How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?""What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?I can only imagine what the first lady has to sayYou've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine."

Another incident that caused minimal controversy was the outburst from Kanye West during NBC's Hurricane Katrina fundraiser when he said, “George Bush does not care about black people”. Shortly after it happened, Kanye’s statement was quickly forgotten. I personally think that what Kanye had to say was much worse then what Dixie Chicks and even Pink said. If you look at the difference between the statements, Kanye West made a public claim (that wasn’t true) against George Bush’s reputation, while Natalie Maines made a personal opinion about how she feels about George Bush. Since when does personal opinions get taken far more seriously then public slander? I think it was an unfair move against the Dixie Chicks, when Pink and Kanye deserved just as much ridicule as they did.

“George Bush does not care about black people”.

As you can kind of tell, all these three situations were handled absolutely differently. When Natalie spoke out about Bush the media took it harsh on her and made it a big deal and their whole career almost ended just because of one group member who made this one comment. The Dixie Chicks probably got criticized like this because this was probably the first time they said something that offended some people and George Bush. On the other hand, whatever Pink says people don’t really care as much because people have grown to know Pink as a girl who says whatever is on her mind and mostly likely always tells the truth. Kanye West makes a big deal about some things like on the VMAs how he got less time to perform on stage and how Brittany Spears got more time on the stage than him. He is always complaining about something and I assume he will never stop. All three of these artists are different types of singers and have different audiences. Natalie’s comment about Bush was taken to the top unlike Kanye West’s comment about George Bush not caring about black people which was more controversial.

Why?---> Well my mom doesnt know how to use a lot of media tools so she just sticks to the telephone and the television. My brother watches a lot of television, probably because his friends always come over and influence him by saying "lets watch pokemon". His friends are a bit older than him so he thinks its "cool" to listen to them. My oldest sister is really focussed on her studies so shes always on her laptop. Me and my other sister are always texting or calling people on our cell phones probably because we are so used to it. We always have it with us and it has just become a necessary.

Do children of different ages or sexes prefer different items? Why?Yes because little kids are usually restricted to some things such as cell phones. Mostly every teenager now days have cell phones and if not cell phones, computers. Also, children of different ages or sexes prefer different items because boy and girls have different taste and are influenced by different media products. For example, boys are influences by toy cars, guns and video games. Girls are influenced by pretty things like Barbie dolls, teddy bear, and make-up. Boys and girls grow up in a different state like girls grow up around "girlie" things and boys grow up by "boy" things. You can’t force them to like something they don’t like because they are all different and will fall towards what they like depending on their age and sex.

Which item is used the most? Why?The computer, because whenever me, my sisters or my little brother are bored, all we do is go on the computer or laptop, also, now days you can do ANYTHING on the computer. By anything I mean, shopping, talk, find locations, and much more!

Which item is used the least? Why?The telephone, because everyone in my family but my little brother has a cell phone and my little brother doesn’t call anyone so he never uses the phone. The only famil member that uses the telephone is my mom, probably because she doesn't know how to use anything else such as the computer or cell phones.